


Gladium

by TelekineticIssue



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:20:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28364550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TelekineticIssue/pseuds/TelekineticIssue
Summary: Jo has a run in with a former flame and their fortunes take a turn for the better.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Gladium

**Author's Note:**

> An experimental piece where I played around with first person and Jo’s character voice. They’re one of my favorite toons and I do eventually want to write out more of their story.

The Blood Legion is my mother.

The Blood Legion is my father.

We charr are born into battle. We live on the fields of war.

And I...I will die fighting.

Or so I thought.

The sound of industry echoes across through the mazelike corridors of the Gladium Canton. It’s a miracle I haven’t gone deaf yet, sitting here, peddling what little wares I have to folks who have a damn sight less coin than I do, and I’ve got less than a dead skritt.

Sounds of cub chatter reach around the corner. A small group dressed in matching mud and teal outfits darts past me, eagerly racing for the exit back into the Citadel proper. I would envy them, if I didn’t know where a good half of them were going to end up.

A few moments later, a straggler appears in the same outfit. Dusty brown fur. Spots. Scraggly mane and the beginnings of a short beard. Two training daggers. A future thief. He’s not alone, though; two much older cubs are hot on his tail, and as I watch, unnoticed, an invisible witness, one of them grabs the cub.

“We’ll send you back to your fahrar in pieces, scrap meat!”

“Let go of me, you Iron smog-sucker!”

The second lands a blow on the cub’s head.

“Not a chance in hell, Blood bait.”

Oh. Now this is my issue.

“Let him go,” I growl. The second Iron scumbag sees me now, sneering.

“Whatcha gonna do, old man? Crawl over here and gum me to death?”

“Don’t need to, cog-brain.”

A snap of my fingers sends a bolt of lightning coursing through his body. Not enough to really hurt him, but enough to make him feel it for the next few hours. His fur stands on end and he takes a step back.

“What’s your deal?”

“Leave the cub alone. He’s not done you any wrong.”

The first bully tosses aside the cub and tries to take his turn at me. I send a puff of flame his way and he reels backwards with a hiss, whiskers singed. The second steps forward again, and I repeat the earlier gesture of lighting.

“Do you want me to do something serious to you both?”

They take the hint, and flee with their tails tucked between their legs. Cowards. I look at the Blood cub. A shallow scratch runs over his nose where a claw caught him. It’ll heal without scarring.

“Are you all right? Lost?”

The cub nods.

“I got separated from my fahrar and Primus. Um...thank you.”

“Who’s your Primus?”

“Mirylla Emberheart.”

I snort. “She’s soft. She’ll be along to collect you soon enough. Wait with me.”

He sits quietly, idly drawing patterns in the dust with a claw. I can feel the questions bubbling inside him. I sigh, resigned to what will inevitably follow.

“What do you want to ask?”

“Who are you? How’d you do that magic? Why are you here? You’d be a great soldier!”

“Slow down, cub. My name is Jo,” I begin. “I’m an elementalist. I was a soldier once, but then I lost my leg and most of my ‘band. That’s why I’m here.”

“Oh...can I ask what happened?”

“A cannon malfunctioned and exploded. Killed some, injured more. I was discharged. Supposedly I ran instead of staying to fight those damn ghosts. As if I could have run with one and a quarter legs,” I growl. “Ask your Primus for what happened after. She was there with the rest of the lot.”

Before the cub can respond, I hear her. That same voice, older now, but still as sweet as the first day I heard it.

“Ari? Where are you?”

“Here, Primus Emberheart!”

He pops to his feet and waves his arms; she appears around the corner, and something in me stirs for the first time in years. It’s either hate or love. Maybe a little of both. She still looks the same. Fur like spilled ink, pristine white paws. Those damn honey-colored eyes.

“Well, Miry, here to collect your belongings?” I quip, attempting to cover the bitterness in my voice. She stops in her tracks, mouth already bared in a snarl to begin chewing the cub a new one, to stare slack-jawed at me. 

“Jonas? Is...is that...you?” she says slowly.

I grimace. “You know I prefer Jo.” 

“They said you were dead,” she says, horror spreading across her face, her tail flicking erratically. “They said they couldn’t give us a body to burn. What happened?”

“Send your cub home first.”

She glares at me. “He’s not mine. Just my charge. Ari, take a left up there and you won’t be lost anymore. I’ll deal with you later.”

“Yes, sir!”

He scampers off, and Mirylla rounds on me again.

“Explain.”

I gesture to my leg. “I’m as good as dead. Gladium. Have been for years. Wasn’t even told when the dead ones’ service would be. They dumped me here as soon as I was self sufficient enough.”

“I’m going to kill someone,” she says. She’s got that look on her face. She means business.

“You’d better not. You’ve got a cub to look after,” I say, lip curling into a smirk. She reaches over to slap me on the back of the head, face dropping into a frown. 

“More than one, but none mine.” She blinks slowly, tiredly. “I tried, you know. Lost them both times.” 

“I’m sorry.” I find that it’s not some meaningless gesture of comfort. I actually mean it.

“It’s not your fault. It’s no one’s fault.”

In a different world, I might have been alongside her when she was told that. Did I want that? Maybe. But I’m still a fool for continuing to think about it.

“So,” she says, “I need to go. But I can still help you.”

“I don’t need your help,” I snarl, wonder at seeing her shifting to anger at her pity. “I’m doing just fi-“

“No you aren’t,” she says calmly, standing. “You were always stubborn. Expect someone in the next few days.”

I huff in her direction, and she lays a paw on my shoulder.

“Jo. I’m glad you’re alive.”

“Mm. I haven’t been so sure that’s a good thing in years.”

She shakes her head, fangs flashing in a grin.

“You’ll change your mind.”


End file.
